I watched as Eric walked away from me with his friend, my heart pounding in my chest. I felt flustered and hot, my body heavy and swollen with arousal. I had been in a trance with Eric, trapped in his eyes, molded to his body in a way that felt natural and right. But I knew that it was neither of those things—Eric was my stepbrother, completely off-limits. I kept myself from glancing over at him and instead tried to look for a place I could get a moment alone in the quiet. I went down a hallway just off of the ballroom and tried one of the doors on the right. It was locked, so I tried the next one, which opened into a dim room that looked like a library, with bookshelves that reached from floor to ceiling. There was a man in there sitting at a desk, handsome in a dark way, with raven hair and eyes that were almost dark enough to match.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was just—”

“Looking for some peace and quiet?” he asked. I nodded.

“Come in,” he said, gesturing for me to enter. He stood up from his desk and buttoned up his suit jacket, moving to the corner of the room to pour us each a glass of wine. He handed it to me, and I held his eye, momentarily captivated by his charming smile. He sat on his desk instead of going back around, gazing down at me with a look on his face that was almost wolfish. For some reason, that look made my body flush all over again, made me shift in my seat to relieve some of the pressure between my legs.

“Party not going well?” he asked.

“I just needed a break,” I told him. “Thank you for letting me come in here.”

“I’m here for the same reason. I hate these parties.”

“So why are you here?”

“I’m the guest of honor,” he said, picking up a glass of brown liquid from his desk and drinking it down. I tried to remember who Eric had said the party was actually for but my mind came up blank. I knew that he was rich, though—a billionaire, and a high-profile one at that.

“You should be down there,” I said to him. I tried not to be intimidated by his status but I had been treated poorly by people like him all my life, people who thought they were better than me. “People are probably looking for you.”

“To tell you the truth, I’d rather be up here.”

He was staring at me, chewing on his bottom lip with a grin on his face.

“You look a little flustered. Something on your mind?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing,” I said.

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“Why are you asking?” I shot at him.

“Because you look like you’re in need of assistance.”

I couldn’t take my eyes away from his. There was an invitation on his face that was plain and simple, so unbelievably forward that it almost caught me off guard.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, but I felt my lips curving into a smile. The wine was making me feel loose and increasingly eager to accept his invitation. It was something that I had never done before—I’d only been with one man, a boy I used to sneak out and see in high school. Other than that, I had stayed away from them.

He reached his hand out then, leaning forward. I was surprised when he put his hand to my cheek, tracing my lips with his thumb. I felt a powerful desire surge through me, fueled by the wine and my frustration after I’d broken apart from Eric. I parted my lips as he stroked them, taking his thumb between them and sucking on the tip.

“Oh, you are a good girl,” he chuckled, gazing at me with eyes half-lidded with lust. “I’m getting the distinct feeling that you need to be fucked.”

I felt my breath leave me as his fingers traced my neck, down to my shoulders, down the v between my breasts, which stopped just above my belly button. He was kneeling in front of me in the chair, his hands on my calves, stroking the backs of them up and down. Each time his hands touched the back of my knees I found myself squirming again, wishing they would slide higher up my thighs.

“What makes you think that?” I asked him as he leaned in, his lips inches from mine.

“You’re squirming,” he said, sucking on my bottom lip. “And that look on your face—you’re going crazy.”

I tilted my face forward and kissed him, tasting his mouth. His tongue tasted of whiskey and spice, sweet cinnamon that made me want to devour him. He pulled back with a grin on his face.

“Do you want me to help you?” he asked, parting my legs before I had the chance to answer. I nodded, kissing him again, too turned on and needy to resist. It was just a one-night thing, a secret, and nobody had to know.

He stroked my thighs then, reaching up to pull my panties down and off. He pushed my dress up around my hips and pulled me roughly to the edge of the chair, lowering his face to plant a hot kiss on my pussy. I hadn’t been expecting it and was almost reluctant to let him. It felt so strange having a stranger do it, and yet the moment he started licking me any thoughts of asking him to stop went out of the window. His tongue lapped at my pussy in long strokes from the bottom to the top of my slit. When he got to my clit, he paid particular attention to it, flicking it with his tongue as I squirmed.

“Why are you so goddamn wet already?” he asked, dipping his tongue into my pussy, spreading the moisture over my folds and lower lips so that I was slick and sensitive all over. “What happened?”

I didn’t answer, instead moaning when he sucked on my clit. Then he pulled his face away.

“Why were you so wound up when you came in here?” he asked, his voice soft but firm. “Tell me.”

“I—I was dancing,” I said.

“With who?”

“My stepbrother,” I told him and immediately regretted it. I felt mortified immediately, but he only smiled again.

“Dirty girl,” he growled, then buried his face in my pussy and started to lick it in quick strokes, circling around my clit but never quite touching it. “That is so filthy.”

I blushed, but didn’t feel embarrassed once he started licking my clit in earnest. I grinded against his face, unable to stop my hips from moving upward for more pressure. His words had made me feel even hotter for some reason that I knew I would feel guilty over later, but now it only increased the pleasure I was getting from his mouth on my pussy. I started to moan loudly, and he lifted his head briefly to look at my face.

“Quiet, princess,” he said. “We wouldn’t want anybody walking in on us.”

I nodded, keeping my mouth shut as he started tasting me again. He slipped two fingers inside me then while he lapped at my clit, and I shuddered as I started to come. At the last second, he pulled back, and I felt my pussy throbbing with need as I groaned. He stood up in front of me and took my hand, then led me to his desk and lifted me to sit on it. I watched as he unfastened his belt and pulled his cock out. It was long and thick and rigid, so big I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to take it. But all I could think about was feeling him inside me, so I leaned back and pressed my hips forward against the edge of the desk.

He didn’t hesitate to fill me up with his cock then, pressing against the back of my pussy. I felt so stretched out, full and satisfied, especially as he started to grind against me. His hands were on my hips and he was holding me still as he fucked me, his strokes growing longer and harder. There was no gentleness in him, just the need to take me hard and rough.

“How’s this?” he asked, his lips near my ear. “Is this what you wanted?”

“Yes,” I breathed, humping him, taking his cock over and over. He pushed me down onto my back and wrapped my legs around his waist, pounding into me with his hips so that I was shaking with pleasure. Nothing had ever felt so good before. I was moaning continuously, unable to stop myself until he put his hand over my mouth to stifle my cries. His other hand found my clit and he started rubbing it with his thumb as he fucked me roughly. I came right away, squirming and writhing on his cock with a loud whimper as pleasure crashed through me.

He pulled out then and gestured for me to get on my knees. I raised my eyebrows at him but there was a command in his face that had to be obeyed. I was still so filled with desire that it was almost hard to take, and I got down on my knees on the floor and took his cock into my mouth. I sucked on the head, circling it with my tongue before I began moving my face back and forth, sucking as much of him as I could into my mouth. I used my hand around the base, pumping it up and down until he came on the back of my tongue.

He looked down at me then, pulling me up to my feet to kiss him. He pulled my skirt down over my hips and pushed a few strands of hair from my face.

“Do you feel better?” he asked.

“Yes,” I told him. “Thank you.”

“It was my pleasure,” he said, kissing me one more time. I went around the desk and put my panties back on, shooting one last look at him before I left the room. I felt giddy suddenly, shocked by what I’d done. I found a bathroom and went inside, locking it behind me. I looked in the mirror at my face, which was flushed, my lips red and slightly swollen from the kisses and taking his cock in my mouth. I looked like I had just been fucked, and I took a moment to let my body cool down before I went back downstairs to the ballroom.

I found Julian in there talking to a girl, leaning against the banister with a grin on his face. For some reason, I felt a twinge of something inside me when I saw them together. I pushed it away and approached them, meeting Julian’s eyes.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked him. He excused himself from the girl without taking his eyes off me, as if she didn’t even exist anymore. He followed me outside and into the cool night air, which felt good on my overheated skin.

“Are you okay?” Julian asked me, studying my face. I felt embarrassed, like what I had done was written all over my features. I felt like he knew, and suddenly I was ashamed of my actions.

“I’m fine,” I said, looking down at the ground, anywhere but his face. “I was just wondering when we were leaving.”

“Do you want to leave? I can take you home and come back,” he said. I shook my head.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I was just curious. Are you having fun?”

“Not really,” he said, and when I met his eyes again they were sparkling and lively, looking me over with interest. He looked a little tipsy, and he kept gazing at my lips for long moments that he didn’t try to hide from me at all. “Are you?”

“No,” I said.

“I think I could make this more fun for you,” he said in a low voice.

“How?” I asked him, staring up at him with a smile. I couldn’t help it. The blatant way he looked at me was hot but I also found it amusing that he was so uninhibited. He leaned in close to me, putting his lips to my ear as he pulled me by the waist against him.

“Dance with me,” he whispered. I nodded. He took my hand and warmth spread from the place where our skin connected. He pulled me on the dance floor and didn’t hesitate the way his brother had, but put his hands on my hips and pulled me against him so that my body molded to his. He had a grin on his face that reminded me of the man I’d been with upstairs. I could feel the length of his cock against my belly. He wasn’t trying to hide it, but looked down at my face with a hungry look in his eye. I found myself rubbing against him slightly beyond my control, not even thinking about it, doing what my body was telling me to do. I was hot and flustered all over again and he knew it, his hands traveling down my back and cupping my ass as he pulled me as close as we could get with the barrier of clothing between us. I thought about stopping him but couldn’t seem to bring my hands to do it. We were moving slowly, grinding up against each other with our eyes connected. I thought about kissing him but decided against it, too nervous that it would break the spell and push him away. I didn’t want to get too attached to him anyway, didn’t want to connect with him any deeper than this dance.

“Do you want me, Ella?” he asked, his voice soft near my ear.

“Julian—” I said, but he cut me off by pressing his lips to my cheek.

“Do you want to go home right now?”

I knew what he was asking. He didn’t just want to go home, he wanted to stay there with me, to bring me to his bed and fuck me and touch me all over. I shook my head, knowing that would be going too far.

“I think—I think we should stay,” I said to him. He searched my face for a moment and nodded. He didn’t look disappointed at all, his arousal unaffected by my rejection. I was glad to see the understanding in his eyes.

He pulled me off the dance floor then, and I felt a little regretful that we hadn’t stayed. It had been such a sensual moment, one that I could easily become addicted to if I wasn’t careful.

I sat for the rest of the night with Julian; occasionally, Eric would come up to our table and sit with us, but he was busy with his friends for the most part.

“Don’t you have any friends?” I asked Julian. That made him laugh.

“Uh, I guess not,” he said.

“I mean—why are you sitting here with me?”

“Ella, you are by far the most interesting person in this room.”

I smiled. “You’re just flirting with me.”

“I might be,” he said.

“You were with a girl earlier. You didn’t look bored.”

“I wasn’t. But that girl isn’t you.”

Eric came over to the table then, noticing how Julian and I were looking at each other. He shook his head at us, meeting my eye.

“You guys ready to go home?”

“Yes,” we answered at almost the same time. He nodded, then we followed him out and waited for the valet to bring our car to the front. It was nice to be outside, though chilly, and I stood close between both of their bodies so that I could feel their heat on my skin. Julian noticed and moved closer so that we were pressed together, his arm wrapped around me. He stroked my waist up and down, making me shiver with something other than the cold.

We got into the car when it pulled up and started home.

“How was your night, Eric?” I asked him. “We didn’t see you much.”

“I’m sorry about that. I got caught up with some old friends and sort of got stuck there.”

“It’s fine,” Julian said. “We had a good time.”

“I bet you did,” said Eric. I looked at him over my shoulder where he was sitting in the backseat, worried about what he was thinking about Julian and me. I didn’t want him to be upset about the way I reacted around Julian. When I looked back though, he had an amused look on his face.

We got back home and I felt Julian’s eyes on my face as we climbed the stairs. I knew what he wanted because I wanted it too. But I knew it was a terrible idea. I forced myself to tell him goodnight and go into my room. I locked the door, mostly as a gesture to keep myself inside. I couldn’t help but imagine creeping into his room, climbing into his bed and straddling his hips in the middle of the night.

Lying in bed, I thought about the man I’d let touch me today, fuck me in a way that was hard and rough and made me feel dirty. I thought about my confession about how I’d felt dancing with Eric, the man’s response to it, how he told me it was filthy and wrong. It had somehow made me hotter, although when I was alone and no longer so aroused I could barely breathe, the thought made me feel slightly ashamed of myself. I was ashamed, too, of how easily the man at the party had gotten me to spread my legs for him. He had been wearing a mask—I had no idea who he was, didn’t even know his name. I felt wanton and wild and I found myself blushing in bed just thinking about what I’d done and how easy it had been to get what he wanted from me. He had barely had to try before he had me wrapped around his cock, taking it deep and fast.

I fell asleep thinking about it, squirming in my bed as thoughts of all three men filled my head. It made it hard to sleep, but I finally dozed off within a couple of hours.